I loved how the appearance app was the go-to place for 80% of everything pertaining to how your desktop looked. it had a built in theme installer, and had a visual way to see an example of how controls, window borders, and icons all would look before even selecting them. I know that right now is a transitional period with Ubuntu/Gnome communities. But I really hate how its very awkward to really change themes.

With the old app, it basically was extremely self explanatory how themes worked and I was a very "Windows" focused user that didn't much more than create folder, drag and drop, etc. And it may sound stupid, but the way the old app made it "stupid simple" to change themes and mix control themes with window themes, is what kept dragging me away from Windows. Cause I didn't know anything about the real Freedom of Linux, except that it let me make my desktop look how I wanted it to. Now that's gone, what is there to really pull the kind of new user that I used to be??

This isn't a huge things for me, as I've learned how to install themes with the "sudo ./install" that most theme packages utilize. But I really think its a big issue for attracting new users. Any light that can be shed on this would be very appreciated.

1 Answer
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No, the 10.10 interface is gone, and unless the GNOME devs add more functionality to the new one, you can't get it back in 11.10. (Also, the new functionality would have to come in 12.04/Precise or later.)

Your best bet at this point is a third-party alternative, if one exists. (I haven't looked.)